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I take people on rat tours in New York City – it's a little taboo but people love it

Kenny Bollwerk runs rat tours in New York City.
Kenny Bollwerk runs rat tours in New York City.

Kenny Bollwerk

  • Kenny Bollwerk, aka "Rat Daddy," takes people on tours to see rats in New York City.
  • He said people come from all over the country to catch sight of the city's rodent mascots.
  • Bollwerk, however, does not love rats. His tours aim to raise awareness and help New Yorkers get rid of the pests.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kenny Bollwerk, creator of "RatTok" and organizer of rat tours in New York City. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

New York is notorious for being a rough, grimy city. Everyone has that New York attitude — and I think the rats are just a part of it. They're another character in the show. They're there with us, whether you like it or not.

I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and I moved to New York City four years ago. During the pandemic, I started walking around, and exploring and I started documenting stuff on TikTok. It started as restaurant reviews and then evolved into filming rats and doing live streams, and people started to get excited.

The first season of RatTok, as I call it, was very successful. We started in January and are on season four now. I wasn't officially doing rat tours, but people who were coming to the city wanted to meet up and see for themselves how bad the situation is.

That's how it evolved from the screen to in-person. I've probably done over 50 rat tours now. I've had families, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, everyone that would go on a regular tour in New York City come on the rat tours.

People have come from Texas, Pennsylvania, Germany, the UK. Even New Yorkers. Some come on multiple tours. It's really cool to meet people from all around the world that you would have never met just because of a rat tour.

There's a wide variety of different things people see. Rats in garbage bags, rats running across people's feet when they don't know they're there. Rats scaring people, people love that. Rats climbing up street signs and trying to jump into trash cans.

People get their phones out like they're in Jurassic Park or something

@nyc_kb

Trash cans won’t solve the rat problem when they are overflowing or can’t close because there is no container. 2023 and New York still is trying to figure out how to throw away trash. #nycratczar #nycrats #nyctrash #whatisnewyork #onlyinnewyork #rattok

♬ Wild Wild Life - Talking Heads

In one video, a biker came through and ran over a rat, and the rat got up and ran like nothing had happened. It shows how invincible the rats are. 

In another one, my friend brought a fishing pole and threw a piece of bread outside and reeled it in, and the rat ran after it like a fish. 

People on the tours get their phones out like they're in Jurassic Park or something, like they're seeing this creature they've never seen before.

I think people like the element of surprise, seeing so many rats at one location and also being able to tell their friends that they went on a rat tour. It's something a little taboo that people don't really do because rats carry diseases and all kinds of stuff.

I don't like rats. In New York City, they're not pets. They're pests. That's what I try to explain.

People call me a whole bunch of names on TikTok, but 'Rat Daddy' is the main one

I do it for entertainment but also to bring awareness. Sometimes rats look cute in the videos, but at the end of the day, they're not cute when they're chewing down your restaurant or infesting places. They cause damage to businesses. A rat could be inside your business and give you a bad restaurant grade.

There's a whole myriad of things that we talk about on the livestreams and tours, like how New Yorkers can mitigate the situation by closing trash can bins and not putting trash on the sidewalk.

The tour starts at 10:30 a.m. We begin at Grand Central, and then we go to the news store, which is infested with mice. I always tell people that's the appetizer. Then we walk around Pershing Square, down to Third Avenue and back toward 42nd Street. There are a couple of stops on the way that we'll see rats 100% guaranteed.

Now, the number of rats we see does depend on the weather. Usually, when it's raining, you won't see too many. But it doesn't matter if it's cold or hot — you're going to see a lot of rats.

I study where they go to and from their nest so I know we're not in the direct path. One time, somebody did walk up and try to grab a tail. So I was like, "all right, we're not gonna do that anymore." We stay a safe distance away, like 10 feet. The last thing I want is to take somebody to the hospital because of a rat bite on a rat tour.

@nyc_kb

Season 2 Memory: Aaron from PA, came with me on Rat Tour and tried to grab the rat tail. #rattourism #onlyinnewyork #rattok #nycrats #rattour #kennybollwerk

♬ original sound - nyc_kb

For now, the tours are free. I sell sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, and stuff like that, and people can support me that way.

People call me a whole bunch of names on TikTok, but "Rat Daddy" is the main one. The nickname just came from being the person going out to different locations and being like the head honcho of the rats, I guess, and letting them know I'm going to possibly get rid of them in a location.

I try to help people in different neighborhoods that may have complained about rats but don't have the platform that I do on TikTok. I think when you video it, it expedites the process for the city of New York to take action because they don't want to be embarrassed, either.

People started commenting like "good job Rat Daddy, you got rid of them." So we just ran with it.

I've met New York City's rat czar. I think it's a good gimmick where it's getting clickbait, but I also think she's also doing a good job of trying to bring together different groups and departments in New York City that maybe don't work closely together on rats, for example, the Department of Health and the Department of Sanitation.

I think rat sightings are down like 22% and now New York's ranked third, according to Orkin, for the rat situation.

That's the one thing I want to be out of a job for — knowing that there's not going to be any more rats. That's the goal.

Read the original article on Business Insider


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